


"Honest" Work

by jico448



Series: The Vendida [2]
Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-01-09 11:28:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12275499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jico448/pseuds/jico448
Summary: The crew's dabble into mercenary work leads them to trouble.





	1. Mercs Lurking

**Author's Note:**

> it's been awhile, hasn't it.

The land was soggy. The air was damp. Everything seemed like moss and fungus. Read and Xuda had been walking for miles in this swamp looking for an alligator. Bonnie had taken a job from some seedy loan shark in a deep dark crevice of the Milky Way that entailed finding an alligator and capturing it alive. Read could remember the conversation.

 

_“You what?!” Read asked in astoundment._

 

_Bonnie replied, “I took a job from a client that wants us t-”_

 

 _“There!” Read interrupted, “That’s the problem! You ‘_ Took a job’ _. We don't take jobs. We take things.”_

 

_“Yeah, but we can make more money doing this job that looting some careless courier. It’s just a hunting job.”_

 

_Read just sighed. He knew Bonnie was right. But he thought that this one job was the first step on a path to becoming a couple of mercenaries. That was the last thing he wanted. He knew his temptations. He knew his skills. But he was determined to fall as far as possible from the tree. He did not know where he wanted his seeds to plant its roots. All he knew what that he wanted to root them with Bonnie. Sometimes he felt as if he fell so far, that he was drowning. Sometimes he felt like he had been planted in in the ashes of the tree from which he fell. He would never truly know where his seeds were sown until he grew to his fullest. But one thing he seemed sure of, was that he didn't have a choice._

 

So here he was, trudging through the thick swampy muck of the forest-like floor. Xuda trudged shortly behind through the swamp as Read thought about Bonnie. Read had thought that Bonnie would want to come with them on the hunt. It was her home planet after all. But she had said no against all of Read’s predictions. He would have just chalked it up to her wanting some R&R alone on the ship had it not been for the tone in her voice. A small tremor could be heard in the decline she gave Read. It held a hint at fear. A fear of what? Earth? How? She had never been to Earth.

 

_Or had she?_

 

He pushed the thought out of his head. She and him had known each other for as long as either of them could remember. He would have noticed if she had taken a quick trip to Earth. And not to mention that she would never keep something like that from him.

 

_That would be shitty._

 

“Hey!” Called Xuda. Read snapped out of his pondering and looked to Xuda, who had gone down a different path than Read was walking. Read looked down to see he was just a few steps away from walking into a small murky lake. Read quickly backed up and went to join Xuda.

 

They continued to walk down what could pass as a path. The sunlight bleed through the trees overhead, forming blotched of light and shadows on anything that dared to enter the swampy marsh.

 

“What the hell is this place?” Xuda asked.

 

“The Everglades apparently.” Read replied.

 

Xuda looked away from Read and up to the towering trees. They reminded him of hell. As if just above the treeline from which the light bleed, hellfire burned the damned to the end of time. Killers and artists alike. He didn’t know whether he couldn’t wait or waited in fear, but he knew he was waiting.

 

Xuda interrupted his own contemplation, “So, how the hell are we supposed to find an alligator here?”

 

“Well, all I know is that they look a little like crawling logs, but their skin looks like ours.” Read gestured to himself with his free hand, holding onto a soggy map.

 

“But how will we find one?” Xuda’s eyes had begun darting to and from logs that had been scattered all over the forest, “How will we be able to tell the difference between a log and an alligator?”

 

“We have a picture of one that came with the map.” Read said conclusively, unfolding the soggy map to its back where different facts about the everglades were listed, along with a picture of a cartoon alligator whose colors had begun to bleed and blend with each other in the presence of the bog-water the map had bathed in.

 

Xude glanced down to the image briefly, then continued walking. “Why the hell don’t you have an actual map the the area?”

 

“Because no one had a map of this dumb place for one reason or another, and this flaccid piece of shit was the only thing I could find without tripping any alarms.” Read could have gotten a normal map from the net, but they were expensive and hard to get via any other means than buying it for the ridiculous price it came at. If Midip could help, Read would have had a real map, dozens of reference for alligators, and some proper hunting gear. But Midip, much like Read, would have no part in mercenary work. Only Midip had obligations to no one.

 

But as to why Xuda came along, Read could not fathom. Read was the closest friend Xuda had on the ship. He was quiet when the ship ate together, only speaking when Read and him were alone at the table. Always playing away in his makeshift studio until one of his crewmates called upon him for his help, in which case he always came.

 

Shots rang out in the swamp.

 

Read and Xuda both went to hide behind the same tree, Read being too slow and having to scramble to one a couple of yard away from Xuda’s. Shortly after, shots of different substances began firing. Soon, Read could count at least five different guns being fired. Than meant, at least, that it was not a military firefight. No plasma guns being fired meant that it was likely a human skirmish.

 

Xuda and Read, however, were ill prepared for a fight. They had gone in with as little lethality as possible. Xuda was armed with only a large net and a pre-space remington shotgun with a silenced barrel. The thing had to have been eons old. It’s barral was steel with cracked woodwork holding it together. The shells it took had stopped being produced years before humans had even begun colonizing other planets, so they only had the room full of shells the gun came with. The thing could kill in one shot, granted the enemy wasn’t wearing any armor and would let Xuda get close enough for the shot to be effective. And even if Xuda was a good enough shot to hit every one of his marks, if there were more than five targets, he would need to sacrifice time to reload the old thing.

 

Read, on the other hand, was armed with a soggy paper map and a plasma pistol. The shots he could fire were just as effective at long range as short, be that not all that effective. The gun was almost obsolete in a military situation, but lethal in an unarmored gunfight.

 

The fight had nothing to do with them. They should just leave the forest and come back another day to do mercenary work. But Read and Xuda were pirates. Without any consultation, they both advanced towards the sounds of cracking shots.

 

They both knew that they weren't going to be surrounding them. This was the human home world. Humans were still in conflict with the covenant, making Xuda and Read’s presents terrestrial trespassing. They would have to make sure no one was able to go back to the authorities until they were done with the planet. Xuda’s shots would be silent and deadly at short range, making him the main killer of the two. Read’s pistol would instantly raise suspicion if shot, even in the heat of battle. He didn’t have anything to offer in the fray, it seemed. Read would watch Xuda’s back from afar as Xuda moved in.

 

Right then, it occured to Read that Xuda was the biggest out of all of them, if they were up against humans, making him the least suitable for a stealthy approach. But upon further thought, Read remembered that Xuda did grow up raised by a highly militarised species, so decided to say nothing about it.

 

As Xuda approached, the scene laid out before him became more and more clear. Three bodies were laid in the center of all the fighting. The fighting was between two sides. The left, and the right. It looked like a deal went wrong, and in two sides backed away from the meeting as bullets began to fly, catching three unlucky fellas before they could get to cover. The right side was clearly outnumbered, but the left had more fallen bodies on it’s side. One of the people from the left side made a quick advance towards the three bodies, getting clipped in the neck right before making it to cover. He slumped against the tree holding his gushing neck with both his hands. Another person on the left threw something to the bleeding man, but was shot along with whatever he had thrown, the item bursting into a green mist.

 

Read’s mind was flooded with doubt. Whoever the crack shot was on the right side was someone Read couldn't see defeating. He wanted to tell Xuda to retreat, but had lost him during lost him in his observation of the fight.

 

Someone on the right, without warning, ran out of cover and over to the three bodies in the middle. Several people peeked out of cover on the left, but hid once again after two of them crumpled lifelessly to the forest floor. The man from the right kneeled down to one of the three bodies, turning over one of them and frantically touching different parts of his body. He pulled out a syringe and injected it into the fallen man. The fallen man sucked in a gasp of air loud enough for Read to hear from his safe distance.

 

A mist of red erupted from the kneeling man’s back before he scrambled to cover, dragging the fallen man behind him.

 

“You fucking idiot!” A voice from the right said. The fight continued for a couple more minutes before shots stopped coming from the left. The men on the right slowly advanced to the left until they had successfully combed through the whole battlefield.

 

It had become apparent that there were no longer a left and right side. Only the living remained. An old man with a long grey beard emerged from behind of a thick tree trunk wearing a camouflage jacket and pants, “Great shoot’n Eliot!”

 

A boy that seemed thinner than the rifle he was holding peaked out from behind a tree that just barely concealed him, “Thanks pa!”

 

The old bearded man walked to where the rescuer was holding his shoulder and dropped a can next to him. The bleeding man gave the can a quick shake before spraying his wound with the green mist that came out.

 

The old man gave the now stable rescuer a hard slap across the face, “Jeremiah, what the fuck was going through that thick skull of yours when you decided to play doctor in the open?”

 

Jeremiah said, kicking the man he had saved, “I wasn’t gonna let this asshole go so soon.” The man who had teetered on the brink of death was silently in tears as he sat with his hands cuffed behind his back.

 

The old man bent down to his hostage, “You okay there buddy?” The hostage only jerked away from the old man’s attempts at conversation. The old man, after receiving no answer from his hostage, stuck his finger inside the bullet wound on his side, “Only one hole in ya boy. That’s lucky. You a lucky boy now, ya hear?” The hostege tried to squirm away from his captor, but feel sideways, being pulled back onto the tree be the old man’s finger still inside him. The hostege could feel his tired aching nerves telling him the wound was being stretched wider. The old man grabbed his hostage by the jaw, “All ya friend- ya little buddies over yonder, they dead now! Some only got one hole like you, but others got punched like swiss.” The old man gestured to the empty syringe that laid on the ground a couple of feet away, “We even wasted some of our finest medicine on your sorry hide! If I were in your shoes right about now, I’d probably show a little gratitude rather than sit and wallow like a little bitch.”

 

The old man released his hostage, turning back to his gang, “Now, Eliot, can you-”

 

The old man was interrupted by the sight of the stark naked alien that stood before him. Before he could even begin to take aim with his rifle, he felt a jab in his back along with a raspy voice, “Don’t move.” The old man felt obligated to listen. His gang came to mind in that moment. He looked past the alien at the lifeless bodies that littered the forest floor. Now he and his hostage were the only ones left. He fell to his knees, letting his rifle thump to the ground as his mind went to the years he and his friend would jock and prank, until they later formed the gang that now littered this hellish place.

 

From behind, a whimpering voice stopped and said, “A couple of lucky bastards, we are.” The old man quickly rose to his two feet and started at the hostess. Read grabbed the old man by the arm, shoving the plasma pistol into his armpit, but that didn’t stop him from kicking the hostage square in the head.

 

The hostage flopped to the ground while Xuda got busy cuffing the old man. Read held the old man tight by the cuffs as Xude slung the unconscious man over his shoulders. Read decided to do a little interrogating, “Who are you?”

 

“Lance! M- m- m- my name is Lance! I- I was just here with my boys to look into this group that came into town not to long ago. We’s heard they's was working for Rail.” The name rang familiar to Read, but pressed for more information. “I just wanted some easy work…”

 

Read had heard enough. He let the sobbing old man fall to the ground and began to call the Vendida. He pulled out his radio and hailed the ship. The ship was hiding behind the moon, so they could not have a conversation, but could only send messages. His message said, “Hey Bonnie, we got ourselves into a little situation down here so we're gonna be making our way back up to the Vendida”

 

“We should just leave them in the cruiser.” Ream only gave Xuda an odd look. Xuda elaborated, “We’re already here. We came a long way to do this for Bonnie. We might as well finish the job.”

 

“But whether we decide to continue with the job or not, we’re still gonna be staying for a while thanks to Midip and his work on the moon.”

 

“Midip? What’s he doing on the moon?”

 

“I don’t know. Something about monitoring human communications.”

 

Xuda was weary of Midip. Of the five passengers on the Vendida, Xuda and Midip were the most socially inept. Despite being the two people aboard the Vendida who shared the least words, they could relate to each other better than anyone else on the ship. The only difference between them, Xuda saw, was their hearts. Xuda saw potential where Midip saw profit. Midip regarded the world with a cold attitude one would only save for someone who had done one wrong. Xuda knew well enough that that might be the case.

 

Xuda continued, “I don’t know why he’s so interested in what the humans know.”

 

“Are you kidding me?” Read replied. “Humans are the shit. Their entrance into the galactic political ecosystem seemingly flipped the whole universe on it’s head. They started war with the covenant almost immediately and are doing damned well at it to.” Xuda gave Read a single disagreeing grunt to tell him not to push the subject as he went to pick up the unconscious man at the foot of the tree he had been pinned against.

 

Read went on, “So, if the humans plan to do something groundbreaking, it’d be nice to know what to expect. How to adapt.”

 

“Who to sell the information to.”

 

“Information brokering?” The words rubbed Read in the same wrong way ‘Merc’ did. Knowing things felt like something everyone had the right to, not something to capitalise on.

 

Xuda could see the thoughts churning in Read’s head, “You disapprove?” Read nodded. “You make for a terrible pirate.”

 

Lance perked up, “Pirates!?” Read shoved his pistol a little further into his back, making the old man walk a little more quickly, and quieter.

 

They walked through the quickly dimming swamp. The cruiser was a while away from where they had had their little skirmish, making for a long and awkward trip.


	2. Bored

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonnie finds herself stranded aboard the place she calls home with nothing to do but think endlessly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dreaming it a lot easier than doing.

Bonnie laid on her bed sideways, her head propped up by her bent arm, her red curly hair half surrounding the arm supporting her head like an escape pod. Her eyes stared out the empty window and at the big ball of earth that sat before her, like a work of art god made for her to look at.

 

It look nice. Not what she had expected, though. The pictures she had seen before of earth looked much better. But the earth, oddly enough, was much better to look at, the way it slowly turned like a coin while the clouds danced upon it’s surface.

 

She could watch it for ages. She could spent the rest of her days watching it age just a single day in it’s life. All the people living down there seemed so small and insignificant. It made her think of a time before space travel. A time before her’s, when the plant you were born on was your whole world. Where it started and ended at a beachline, a steep mounted, or a sheer cliff. Now, borders were a thing of the past, existing only in our heads.

 

She got up once Florida had disappeared into the horizon. Her body filled with the sound of tiny air bubbles popping in her bones. They felt like grenades going off in the quiet room. Without Read or Xuda, the ship was silent as the space that surrounded it. It made the air eire to her.

 

She needed to do something to fill the air. So she thought.

 

Music. It seemed like the thing everyone on the ship did together. As she slipped on a shirt, she thought of all the times the crew had played together. Read had a tempo that Bonnie was raptly accustomed to that made him a decent drummer. His feathers always bounced to and fro as his body moved fluidly between each drum, his strikes always providing a stable foundation on which to build their melodies.

 

But Xuda was the most memorable. She passed Xuda’s recording studio as her thoughts agent to the thought provoking man. Whoever was playing, was always playing with Xuda. Sometimes, Bonnie would hear Xuda playing in the auditorium and come join him, and other times, Read would give me a tug on the pants, inviting her to come and play along, just as they did as children. But always they were joining, never starting. Always playing behind. Always watching from the front. Always in awe. The way Xuda lost himself in whatever song he was performing was something of a jaw dropping experience. His head would loll from side to side, or violently rock forward and back, depending on the song. His body would embody the song as he performed. His hands would dictate the notes his guitar would make for the song, but it seemed that the song would dictate what his body would do next, marking his performance  a pyridoxal loop of control.

 

Bonnie had reached the door to Xuda’s studio at the end of that thought that had, when tried, not opened. After a few more tries, she was interrupted when Midip

 

“What are you doing?” Midip said from below Bonnie’s gaze. Despite his height, Midip always looked at people as if he were so down upon them. He stood on the other side of the hall with his arms awkwardly crossed, waiting impatiently for an answer.

 

“I just wanted to try a little music playing.” Bonnie said with a sheepish smile. The amount of shits he didn’t give was almost palpable to her as she watched him roll his eyes.

 

“I’ll be exiting the ship for a while, so you’re gonna have to watch Gared while I’m gone.” Midip said as he continued down the hallway.

 

She was, once again, left with nothing to do.

 

Xuda must have locked it when he left. That was awfully protective of him to do. Bonnie knew that Xuda was very shy when it came to his music, his passion. She also knew that he was the newest member aboard the ship. Bonnie just thought that he would have been comfortable enough at this point. She should just stop expecting people to be better than they are. She knew how hard people could be. Jagged and cutting. Evil and spiteful.

 

She thought of people like seeds. So similar to starting out, yet so vast in the spectrum they grow up to be. Bonnie lived to see the flowers of the world. She could remember the first flower she ever looked at. It reminded her of the first time she ever saw a galaxy. They both seemed to blossom to her.

 

The cockpit. Bonnie stood in the cockpit of the ship looking at the moon and onward into the void. Planets truly were other worlds. Most were polluted miles high to the point where if something were to hold your attention, it would have to be on the ground, and not in the sky. But in the sky- past the sky, nothing was left between you and the nothingness that you came from.

 

A repetitive, monotone beeping came from the console. There were already a thousand blinking lights and knobs. She knew how to fly, but nothing else.

 

After a few beeps, Read’s voice began to play over the speakers.


	3. Breakdown

A breach in the thick parade of swamp that Read and Xuda found themselves in made itself present after Xuda lifted his head from its tiered droop. They, along with the two prisoners they held captive, gave a relieved sigh as they approached the exit as if they were walking to the pearly gates themselves.

 

Once out, Xuda dropped the old man onto the ground without any regard for the guy. As the old man’s body flopped to the ground, Xuda extended his arms, reaching into the sky, stretching out all the knots in his arms and back.

 

Lance, on the other hand, limped out of the swamp until pushed to the ground from behind by Read. Lance pushed himself off the ground, dusting off the mud and grass he had collected on the ground when he saw what looked to be a police cruiser. Lance could tell by the look of it that it wasn’t just any ordinary cruser you would find at the donut shop or responding to a shoplifting, but one made for interplanetary travel. One you could only find on a police space station. Lance wondered what a bunch of thugs like these were doing with an advance ship like that.

 

Lance looked at Xuda, the tall covenant alien, and the human scum that lie beneath him. His mind instantly went to plans and schemes of escape. He looked around, and saw only open fields. He then looked behind, to the swamp they had just left. Could he make it? He didn’t think so. Not without being gunned down before making it to the tree line.

 

Lance could arm himself. Take one of the alien’s guns. He glanced at his captor so quickly, he doubted the alien had noticed it. It was small and lanky, not unlike himself. A matched adversary. But the weapon he held looked odd and small. He thought that even if he could figure out how to fire it, it would do little to no damage against the hard looking exterior of the aliens. The other alien, on the other hand, had a very powerful shotgun Lance knew would deal some damage. But his plan soon lost its merit when the large and towering creature came into play. Lance couldn't even pretend to entertain the idea of disarming that beast.

 

But before Lance could scheme any further, a hard thump came across his head, and he joined the old man in an unconscious state. Read watched Xuda climb into the ship to rev it up. He looked to the two unconscious humans, and the distance they were from the ship. He thought that maybe he should have knocked him out when he was in the ship, or maybe a little closer to it, at the very least. But that glance the human had given him showed signs of mishap and difficulty. Better safe than sorry. He felt safe knowing that they would be docile for the trip to the Vendida, but still felt sorry for making himself drag the human to the ship as it’s engines revved on in a symphony of noise.

 

Read had dragged Lance halfway to the ship before Xuda had picked the limp human up and tossed him into the same corner as the old man. A couple of flipped switches later and the ship was hovering above the ground, tearing up the dirt were there had previously been grass before their decent. Then lift off. As they flew up and into the sky, it slowly lost its blue hue as it bleed away into the familiar black Xuda and Read were so fond of.

 

About fifteen minutes in, a few red light began to beep before Xuda and Read became weightless.

 

Xuda let go of the controls to pull himself down to the seat, “Shit! What just happened?!” He looked at the consol but only saw human jiberish.

 

Read pulled himself over to Xuda’s seat and began fastening him into the seats harness, “It says the artificial gravity has failed.”

 

Xuda gave him a baffled look, “That is well and known to me! What I don’t know is why it has failed, and how the hell we are still flying this ship!”

 

Read finished up with securing Xuda and flung himself back into his seat, “I don’t know. I can only only read what the console tells me. I don’t have a clue how this thing works.” He then strapped himself in and initiated contact with the Vendida, “Hello? Bonnie are you there? It’s currently 6:41pm, and Xuda and I have experienced a loss of gravity, but are still drifting towards the Vendida.” Read looked down and saw that nothing was being transmitted, “Well… fuck.”

 

* * *

  
  
  


Bonnie sat in the cockpit, aimlessly twirling her hair. She had start to become nervous and worried for Read and Xuda. But before she could worry any further, a blip showed up on the ship’s proximity radar. She went over quickly to the surveillance panel and maneuvered a camera that was facing where the blimp, and saw the police cruiser that Read and Zuda had taken. Her worries had been put to rest as she opened the hangar doors.

 

* * *

 

 

As Read entered the hanger, his ass suddenly hugged his seat and everything behind him clattered to the floor. One of the prisoners began to groan as the ship set sown in the hanger among one of the spots free of junk.

 

Xuda quickly undid his belt and grabbed Lance as he charger towards the two seats. He lifted Lance and said in the best english he could muster, “If you keep trying to play funny, I will knock you out again. And I don’t know how much that pewny human brain can take.”

 

Lance trembled in Xuda’s grip, and gave a shaky reply, “Okay…”

 

Read opened the door to find Bonnie on the other side. They enbrec each other in a quick, passionate kiss, in the doorway.

 

Bonnie asked, “What happened? You didn’t say anything when you came close to the ship.”

 

Read answered, his hand slowly trailing down her back, “The ship broke shortly after leaving earth’s orbit. The gravity failed and transmission wouldn't get through.”

 

Bonnie said, “Looks like someone is gonna have to get Midip to look at this.”

 

Xuda lead Lance past the intimate with the older man lugged over his shoulder. Lance gave the two love birds a disgusted look as he was lead to the brig.


	4. Brief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew comes across some new information that might lead them to bigger and better riches, and deeper darker secrets.

Xuda plucked aimlessly at his guitar, the old wooden thing trembling with every precise strum his pointed fingers made. He wasn’t lying anything in particular. Just jumping to the next note that would complement the one before. Sometimes, his mindless plucking would yield a pleasant melody. Then he would play that melody over and over, replacing some notes with sharps or flats, until he had a beautiful song he could play from beginning to end, its initial melody  transforming into mutated offspring versions of itself.

 

Xuda had a music sheet in his head of how the song would go, doing this part her and then the other part hear, followed by the sad one that began happy. He saw it as a little play were he would shoo a verse onto the stage and let it perform their part. Each verse would go onstage and do what he had taught them to do. The play would go beautifully until he last verse reared its unfamiliar head, trembling and quivering with stage fright, threatening to be just one note off of its intended performance. The verse keep getting closer and closer to the stage, its spotlight like a laser beam that would burn it alive if it were to step into it.

 

Then the verse’s time came. No others in between it and that bright hot spotlight. It looked up into Xuda’s understanding gaze one last time before taking the first step onto the stage.  _ Alright, _ it would have thought,  _ this is gonna be the one where I shine! _ It would say this in spite of its overbearing anxiety.

 

Each step the verse tok towards the spotlight was more trembling and trepidation than the last, until it came to the edge of the spotlight, the music reaching its all time climax, the empty crowd gasping on the edge of their seats, Xuda off the the side, just out of sight behind the blood red curtain, nervously devouring his non-existent nails.

 

The verse enters the spotlights ring, it’s light draping down the musical thing’s fickle form. It felt the heat. The eyes, all of them on it. It inhaled, ready to perform.

 

But it’s reality shattered before it could begin.

 

“Xuda!”

 

The voice was sharp and high-pitched, piercing his sensitive sense of hearing like a dagger. He covered the sides of his head, but it kept coming “We have a lead, and it’s a big one!”

 

It was Midip’s voice. It had had a ting of excitement to it that made Xuda pause in his annoyance. The small unggoy was usually reserved and cold to everyone on the ship, only speaking to us when he had a problem with the ship, a mission, its pay, or one of us.

 

Xuda set down his guitar and followed Midip down the hallway. Midip was being followed by Read and Bonny as Xuda joined the three of then in their quick stride to the kitchen/dining room. 

 

Once there, everyone quickly sat down at the table with a loads of projected pieces of information. Among them, Xuda spotted a posting about a location named ‘site 49’. He studied it further while Midip briefed.

 

“I got a new lead from one of my sources. Now before I begin, does everyone here know about the flood?” everyone nodded in acknowledgement, “Okay, how about site 49?” Read and Bonnie shook their heads, while Xude did nothing at all. “Okay, well it was a covenant research site where they did a lot of medical studies. A Lot of cross-species infections and diseases were studied and researched there, and almost every vaccine was made there, and if not, was at least created there. So of course, when the flood epidemic hit the galaxy, site 49 was where the solution began. They got nowhere for a while until they brought along controversial sangheili biologist, Dr.Zolcam. His methods were considered odd, but no one could argue with the results. He successfully created a vaccine that would turn anyone into an incompatible host for the parasite. It was even rumored that the doctor was on the verge of creating a cure that could reverse the effect of the parasite, before the outbreak.”

 

Xuda spoke up, “We will not go there.”

 

Midip gave Xuda a nasty look, “You don’t even know what values lie in that site!”

 

“Nothing in there is worth the journey in.”

 

Midip ended the verbal skirmish, “We will talk after. Privately.” Midip gave a little sigh, and then continued, “Anyway, the facility was soon overrun by the flood, although that was never officially confirmed, and everything was left behind without a trace.”

 

Read spoke up, “Why didn’t they go back to get anything important, or at least destroy the facility so that people like us couldn’t steal anything?”

 

Midip replied, “Because no one knew where site 49 was except those in the site, and all were killed due to the place being locked down as soon as the epidemic started. The lockdown was made to be lifted as soon as the epidemic was wiped out, but it never was. So the place remains locked down to this day.”

 

Bonnie asked, “Well, how do you know this if everyone was trapped and killed in the facility?”

 

Midip replied, “Because not everyone was in the site when it happened. The one who founded the site is very high up in the covenant food chain, and was rarely there. Everyone who knew about the site knew to keep it hush hush, so when the founder said one day ‘it failed’, no one batted an eye, and everyone assumed that he had everything under control. And it seemed that he did. When the locked down was activated, he received the site wide broadcast saying so. So he assumed that either the site would handle the outbreak, or that flood, along with the other secrets of the site, would be locked away as some secret place for the rest of his life.

 

Midip gave a dramatic pause, which surprised everyone at the table. He seemed really excited about this. He continued, “But plans changed. He was captured by Mr.Gonzalez's private militia group and interrogated of the location of the site.”

 

Read was about to asked a question when Midip answered, “As to how I know this, of the two men you captured, the younger one is a mercinary, and the older one is Mr.Gonzalez’s son. The son told me that when he left the pentship, the site founder was still aboard and being interrogated. He might have given up the information by now, or might be dead. But this is something I think we should work on. That site has priceless pieces of equipment, and cutting edge technology. The research there alone is worth a fortune.”

 

Xuda got up, making his way out, “You all are free to participate in this madness, but I will take no part in it, nor it’s riches.”

 

Xuda made hasty out of the room, leaving only the three to discuss matters among themselves.

 

Bonnie asked, “Wait, so what about the job I took from Mr.Gonzalez?”

 

Midip replied, “Simple. We go to him, say we were looking for an alligator when we came across his son in a firefight and promptly saved him. We return him home, hope Mr.Gonzalez provides some hospitality, get the founder, discreetly, if possible, and leave. If the founder has been killed, we will look for the location, and destroy any evidence of it on the pentship.”

 

Bonnie and Read both nodded in agreement. The plan seemed sound to them, until the devils came into play. So Read asked, “What about the pentship? Do we know the layout? Do you know where the founder is being held?”

 

Midip answered, “That is where I need you guys to make some decisions. I’ve looked all over, but couldn’t find anything close to floorplans of the pentship. So that leave us with two options. Option one, we grill the son for the layout, and by doing so, we instantly gain the information on where the founder is being held. But by doing so, the son will without doubt know what we’re up to, and won’t hesitate to tell his father when we reunite them. So we will have to incapacitate the son before we hand him over to his father, and I don’t think we will earn enough hospitality to allow us enough time to secure the founder if we arrive with his son in that state.”

 

“Option two, we don’t grill him, and one of you goes in blind. Now, I don’t like that option and the uncertainty if brings, but Mr.Gonzalez will certainly be grateful, and show plenty of hospitality.” Midip looked to the fourth empty seat, “We will need Xuda’s cooperation in this. It too big for just the two of you.”

 

Read spoke up, “I’ll try to convince him.”

 

Read walked to the hallway and towards Xuda’a room as Midip asked Bonnie, “So, what can you tell me about Mr.Gonzales?”

  
  


Xuda had just picked up his guitar when Read had knocked on his door.  Read spoke frankly, “Look, this is too big for just Bonnie and I. What was that that stuff you were saying in the swamp about us being pirates. Do you not think that?”

 

Xuda retorted, “No, that is not the case. There are places where people have no right being. Even people like us are no exception. “

 

Read thought about what Xuda was saying for a moment. Xuda had never been one to refuse a find, no matter how impossible it seemed. But now, he seemed like an immovable thing. Read had never had to convince Xuda to do something he didn’t want to do. He had never asked too much of Xuda, or pushed when he resisted. But this was too big to pass up, or to fail.

 

So Read tried again, “You know, all you have to do is come with me and Bonnie to the pentship.” Xuda looked up from his guitar as Read continued, “Just finish the job you took, and leave the site to us.”

 

Xuda stood up from his stool and walked right up to Read, towering over him, and said, “I don’t want any of you going near that site! None of you have any business metaling in that aftermath.” Xuda came a little closer to Read, until all they could see was each other, “Have you ever dealt with the flood? Seen what they can do?” 

 

Read replied, “They’re monsters. They can't be much different than people. Maybe a little dumber.”

 

Xuda sighed. He backed away from Read and sat back down onto his stool, “Alright- “ Xuda said dejectedly, “I’ll finish the job I started. But after that, I will not be having anything to do with that site business.

 

Read gave a sigh of relief, “Thank you.” Read was just about to leave when he look back on Xuda one last time.  He sat on his stool and held his guitar as if to play something, but did not. “I’m sorry. But we need this.” Xuda didn’t look up or give and sort of acknowledgment. Read didn’t expect any, so walked on out.

 

Read returned to the kitchen/dining room. Midip quickly stop whatever he was saying to Bonnie and asked Read, “So…”

 

Read answered, “Ya. He’ll come, but only as far as the penthouse is concerned. He doesn't want anything to do with the site.”

 

Midip tossed that fact over in his head, and then spoke, “We’ll deal with that problem later, but for now, I think we can handle going in blind, making the son believe he has been rescued. We’ll send Read and Xuda do deliver the son, telling them that Bonnie is still unable to meet face to face.” Midip looked to Bonnie, “So that means you will have to go undetected as you look for the founder.” Bonnie noded, and Midip looked to Read, “Read, you’ll have to keep Mr.Gonzalez busy while Bonnie tries to locate and secure the founder, which doesn’t sound all that hard from what Bonnie tells me. But you must remember that Mr.Gonzales is under the impression that Bonnie is no longer satisfied or happy with the relationship you and her have. So if he So if he says anything that might indicate that, you must go along with it.”

 

Read looked to Bonnie with a bemused smirk, to which she replied with a sheepish smile.

 

Midip handed Bonnie a small plastic case and continued, “Once you find the director, you’ll need this.” Midip opened the case on the table and spun it around so that Bonnie could see its contents and continued, “The blue syringe will knock him out, but if he is too damaged, it might kill him. So if you think he’s too damaged, then use the green syringe. That will heal and fatigue him, but it won’t knock him out, so he’ll still hear and see, but he’ll be too sluggish to resist much. And don’t use the blue syringe if you’ve used the green one. That will put him in coma.”

 

Midip looked to Read before concluding the briefing, “I can assume you’ll explain this to Xuda?”

 

Read nodded, giving Midip the go to conclude, “We’re currently two days from the pentship, so that gives you three plenty of time for preparation. Will you be ready?”

 

Bonnie and Read both nodded, “Yes!” A covert infiltration, secret off-the-books research site gone wrong, and a fortune at the end, all in one find? How could they not be ready?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are picking up. Now that I have summer off from school, I have plenty of time to write again.


	5. Preparation Phase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew find themselves taking the first steps down a dark path.

A gentle melody wakes Bonnie and Read from their exhausted slumber. Bonnie’s eyes slowly opened to the sight of the endless space outside. She turned her head to the middle of the bed to see Read sleeping soundly.

 

She couldn’t lie, the smell might have gotten to her if she wasn’t so animalistically inhaling Read’s foreign musk. She ran her fingers through his feathers as she rolled on top of him. He began to stir in his sleep before opening his eyes as well. He looked up to Bonnie and could tell that the sweat, among other things, had dried to her, and him as well, overnight.

 

They would need a shower, but until then, Bonnie both wanted to see if they couldn’t get a little dirtier. 

 

Read said in a groggy voice, “No Bonnie hon, I’m exhausted.”

 

Bonnie sigh and flopped off of Read and to his side and asked in a similar groggy voice, “Can you still take care of me in the shower?”

 

Read rolled over to hold Bonnie, “Ya, sure. In like, five minutes.”

 

Bonnie could already feel Read begin to get comfortable with her in his grip. This would not stand, for they had a day of training head of them. Plus, Read had work to do on Bonnie.

 

Bonnie got out of Read’s loving embrace, as well as the bed, to which Read protested with a loud groan. Once out of the bed, she flung the covers off, revealing Read’s naked body for the world to see. She was hit with a momentary scent of musk before it dissipated. Looking down at Read, Bonnie could just devour him. He looked absolutely adorable, the way he rolled in place and rubbed at his eyes, completely oblivious to the affects his naked form had on Bonnie. 

 

Bonnie let him writhe in the bed a few moments longer, not wanting to put an end to this beautiful display. But eventually, she would have to get him out of bed, and that she did. She tucked her arms under Read and lifted him out of the bed with no small amount of effort. Read gave a little gasp as he suddenly became weightless in her hold.

 

Once they got to the showers, she set Read down. The showers were constructed to be public in nature. There were two in the ship, one for boys, and the other for girls, though they were never used in that way.

 

Bonnie twisted the knobs on the wall and water slowly began to flow from the rose in the wall. Cold water hit Bonnie and Read as they held each other under the waterfall.

 

Bonnie’s hands wandered over Read’s hard exterior. One hand caressed his feather adorned head as her other slowly dragged itself up his back. Read almost purred in bliss. Her fingers prodded every nook and groove as he began to do the same to her.

 

He started with both hands at her shoulders, slowly working one of them through her hair as the other went down her back. Her hair was tangled and messy, so he didn’t dare run his fingers through them, but only caressing it. By the time his hand had meet the small of her back, he was done with her hair and used the free hand to gently cup her breast. It wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle, for she was petite for a woman. But Read still loved groping her nonetheless, and Bonnie loved it to. Bonnie gave a deep gasp as his grope became more intense and the hand on her back finally reach her ass.

 

They both moved in tandem under the cold water, pushing and pulling at each other. They were not made for each other, but they made it work, in spite of what their bodies would allow them.

 

* * *

 

Xuda was pulled from his deep meditation by the sound of two giggling idiots passing in the hallway. He threw a glance in the direction to see Bonnie, naked and shameless, carrying Read, only naked, down the hallway.

 

Xuda quickly put that image away and went back into his concentration.

 

_ He was in a forest. The trees around him slowly grew and churned without getting any bigger. He walked forward and between the ever-moving trees until he noticed a change in the tall wooden structure. They all started to straighten and flatten, making pained creaking noises as they did so. Then the trees began to change color. They all started to turn a sickly yellow as the leaves above went pink and heavy. _

 

_ Then Xuda noticed something. Two small things had erected themselves one each side of him. It was then that Xuda understood what was happening. What grew at his sides were plastec pens, and the forest around him was made of pencils. _

 

_ It was odd, but Xuda could relaxe here. He took in the forest around him, and tried to glean some meaning from it. Everything around him went from nature to artificial. That could be it, but is was too simple. Nature was being replaced by artificial creation for as long as life has existed. _

 

_ Xuda had just come to the thought that maybe artificial creations were, in some way, a part of nature, when the two pens at his sides demanded his attention. He ignored them and instead thought of trees and sap. Sap was considered a natural byproduct. To prove himself, Xuda reach out as if to gather some sap from one of the nearby pencils, but instead pulled his hand back to be drenched in ink. _

 

_ Xuda looked to the pens at his side to see that they had both grown to be as tall as the pencils around them. One was black, and the other was red. Soon, Xuda began to be drenched in shadow as something began to grow from atop the pens. Xuda looked closer and saw that was what growing was white sheets of paper. Upon further inspection, he could make out some words on one of them. _

 

_ ‘NOW YOU HAVE MANY LEGS TO STAND ON’ _

 

_ Then the hand came. It was gross and human, and it clasped itself on Xuda’s shoulder. His skin crawled under its callus grip. Xuda looked to the hand only to see how nightmarish it looked. It looked scabbed up and wounded. Even the nails looked to be going, but not like a dead man’s would. _

 

_ Xuda was being haunted again. He shut his eyes and began to think of better times. Training with his father. Learning the guitar. Something else. He searched his mind for something else. Some other moment in his life that was positive. But in the end, he could find nothing. _

 

Xuda opened his eyes, and the world seemed a little dimmer.

 

He should stop doing this.

 

He got up from his stool and prepared for trouble. Plenty of things could go wrong in the pentship. If Bonnie were to get spotted or caught, the security would give Xuda no easy time. So he got dressed and headed down to the shooting range.

 

He made a quick stop to the armory to select some weapons to use. He picked up two rifles, one automatic and the other not, a pistol, an energy rifle, a covenant carbine, an energy pistol, and a particle beam rifle. Xuda, in the beginning, was ridiculed for the amount of weapons he would bring to the range. But he saw no purpose in training with just one weapon.

 

Xuda walked into the range to see that he was not alone. Midip was behind one of the booths where he was working on some sort of orbed shaped thing. Midip gave a glance up at Xuda and nodded, knowing what Xuda was going to do. He went back to work as Xuda went into a booth and dumped all the weapons in his tote onto the ground next to him.

 

He turned on the target, a hologram far down the range, set the distance, and took in a heavy breath. The target was far. He glanced to his right to see another hologram that was an exact copy of the one down the range.

 

And without thinking, he started the timer,  bent down and grabbed the first weapon his hands could find without taking his eyes off the target. When it was in his grasp, he could tell by its weight and edged grip that it was an M6 pistol, and he had grabbed it by the barrel. He gave the weapon a quick and light toss in the air and grabbed it by the grip, quickly aiming the gun at the target and pulling a shot off.

 

By the time his hand absorbed the recoile, the timer had already hit one second. But it stayed there a while.

 

_ Xuda strummed his guitar, hearing an off note, and ran his hands up the neck of his guitar and slowly turned one of the tuning pegs. _

 

His elbow loosened a bit, and his shoulders stiffened.

 

_ He ran his hands down the frets, hearing the sound his hand made against their tiny ridged riddled bodies, and strumed them, hearing harmony. _

 

A second shot fired off before the timer could hit two seconds. Xuda quickly stopped the timer before it struck three seconds. He looked to his left to see the target. One shot landed just in the middle of the target’s radius. That was the first shot. The second shot landed just at the edge of the bullseye.

 

Xuda was preoccupied. He was distracted and unfocused. He should have nailed the first shot, for he knew the M6 well. This mission had him on edge, despite the fact that he wouldn’t be going to the site. But just the mere thought of it had him hindered. To many bad thought came of it, and now it was affecting his performance.

 

Xuda set the pistol down and took another deep breath. He had to get over this. It could very easily get him killed at the right or wrong moment. It seemed impossible, the feelings and memories he had to defeat. If only such things could be settled with bullets and energy.

 

Midip glanced up momentarily to look at Xuda. He stood in the booth completely motionless. Midip saw him as some sort of spring being wounded up. Soon he would move faster than most could keep up with once the tension was released. That’s what Midip told him once, but that wasn’t all of it. Xuda always seemed to have tension. He would wind himself up and let himself go, but some tension always remained.

 

The tension snapped as Xuda grabbed a plasma rifle and fired off two shots before Midip even had time to blink. Almost all the tension in Xuda had been released as he examined the target, but Midip could still see the tension that never seemed to leave him.

 

Midip thought about that as he worked on the orb in his hand. Oracles are what they were called. He had download it’s contents to find a single and complex software. It was your typical A.I. software. Almost all oracles had A.I., but Midip had no use for it. He wiped the software in favor of his own.

 

The thing came to life in his hands. Midip then quickly pulled out his tablet to see if the thing was connected to his program. And sure enough, it was. He tapped a button on the tablet, and the orical moved forward. He tapped another, and it moved backwards. The thing was working in perfect order.

 

It was when Midip was holding both the tablet and the orical in his hand that he realized the true value of what he had created. He had successfully created forerunner drivers, lines of code that could make communication between current software and forerunner hardware. The ability to put to use some of the best hardware in the universe instead of just reverse engineering it.

 

As Xuda fired off another two shots, Midip came to the horrifying realization that he must not have been the first to do it. He was only one person from what was considered one of the duller races of the universe. The covenant must have figured it out a while ago, and keep those precious few lines of code a tight secret. Either way, the code he had created now seemed a little lesser in worth.

 

But there was still underground trade. There was no end to the amount of people that would want this code. Forerunner tech was quite valuable, but that value was hard to get into real money. Once you had a piece of forerunner tech, the only use it had was to the covenant, and getting these items to the covenant was hard if you didn’t have the right connections.

 

But now the game has changed. Those hunks of old tech could now be put to work with the help of Midip’s reasonably priced driver. Of course, this driver wouldn’t work with every piece of forerunner hardware out there, but it was a start. All it took was a couple of changed ones and zeros, and a decently intelligent lad to get a driver for a different but similar piece of hardware.

 

Midip had plenty of time to plan his monopoly over the forerunner driver market, but for now, he had to test it. He didn’t even know how well it worked. He had an image from the orical on his table, allowing him to maneuver it from that image alone. He moved it out of the shooting range and throughout the ship. He could see the image become degraded and fuzzy as it got further from the tablet. He would have to get the connection working from the ship’s broadcasting device later, but as long as the orical didn’t leave the ship, it was alright.

 

He wandered through the halls until he came to the sparing room where he saw Bonnie and Read fiercely brawling. Bonnie would do one thing, and Read would block it with with an arm or a leg. Read would go in for an attack, and Bonnie would redirect the motion of the attack out of her way and quickly make a weak but quick counter attack.

 

The two would go at it for five seconds before Bonnie would knock Read down and get him into a compromising position.

 

Bonnie boasted over Read’s defenceless body, “C’mon! You not get enough sleep last night?”

 

Read groand under her, “You know just how much sleep I got last night.”

 

Bonnie gave a wry smile, “Well then, maybe you should try to be a little less distracted.”

 

With that, Read found some room in Bonnie’s hold, and exploited it by spinning, knocking one of her arms from under her, and putting the crook of his leg around her neck, pulling her down in the spinning motion.

 

His dominance and self now securely over her, Read said, “Maybe you should stop being so distracting.”

 

They stared into each other's eyes for a little while, appreciating each other for a little while before both getting up. They dusted themselves off and both walk off to the zero g room.

 

As they walked, Bonnie said, “You can’t absorb every blow that’s dealt to you Read. Your skin may be harder than mine, but that’s no excuse to ignore what i’ve taught you.”

 

Read gave a nod, “Ya, I guess. But you’re so soft and small, and you hit a lot harder than you look. And no matter how much I know you can hit hard, I always make that same assumption with you.”

 

Bonnie looked at Read, “Well, maybe I should start getting Xuda to join us on these sparring matches of ours. You won’t underestimate him.”

 

“Ya, I might  _ overestimate _ him.” Read said this with the thought in mind that Xuda had never show any exceptional skill in close combat. In fact, Read had never seen Xuda in hand to hand combat.

 

Getting Xuda to train with them became a more appealing thought. Bonnie and Read had been in situations where they had to engage in hand to hand with enemies much larger than themselves. It had only happened a handful of times, and they always came out of the fight exhausted and wounded. Getting training for such larger opponents would make encounters with larger enemies much easier.

 

They got to the door and promptly opened it. After getting in and shutting it, they tidied up the room. It was a vacuum room for entering and exiting the ship, but no one ever used it, for there were no space suits on the ship. But what made the room so useful was that the room had its own artificial gravity system. It could be turned off without affecting the rest of the ship.

 

Bonnie stood by the control panel on one side of the room while Read stood on the side opposite. They both gave each other a determined look before Bonnie flipped the switch on gravity. They both leapt off the walls and and quickly shot towards each other.

 

* * *

 

Gared was sitting patiently in his seat, reading up on his french when the slumbering figure next to him stirred awake. His old eyes opened and layed themself onto the lumbering jiralhanae that sit beside him.

 

The old man stood stood up in a panic before Gared spoke to him in near perfect english, “Don’t panic. I’m not here to hurt you.” He slowly folded the book in his hand and placed it onto the ground next to him, all the while not breaking eye contact with the troubled old man. Gared continued, “In fact, I’m here to do quite the opposite. We found you and your friends in quite some trouble in the everglades. Luckily, we were sent by your father to do just what you were there to do.” Gared could see the old man start to calm down as he continued, “We’re on our way to your father as we speak. It’ll be about two days until we reach him.” As Gared said this, he quickly and discreetly pressed a button on his chair three times.

 

The old man, now somewhat more placated, spoke, “Okay, that's nice to hear.”

 

Gared gave the old man a great wide smile. He saw the old man’s shoulders begin to lose their tension. In fact, Gerad was beginning to see a complete change in the old man’s demeanor. He now stood tall and friendly, also adopting a great wide smile.

 

The old man spoke with his hand outstretched, “Well, thank you for my life fine sir!” Gared was quick to shake his eager hand as the old man continued, “The name’s Ethan. Ethan Gonzales.”

 

“Gared. Just Gared.”

 

Ethan gave a light hearted chuckle, “Well Gared, that was mighty brave of you to get me out of that pickle like you did.”

 

“Oh, I’m not the one who saved you. My two friends are the ones who did. They’re somewhere on the ship. Would you want me to introduce you?”

 

Ethan gave a nod, “Why, I would be honored to meet them.”

 

Ethan and Gared walked down the corridors of the space station at a brisk pace. Ethan looked at the walls and in the rooms he had but a glimpse of time to look at.

 

Ethan spoke up, “This is a mighty fine place you’ve got yourself here.”

 

Gared looked down to Ethan, “Why, thank you Ethan, but this place could be a little better if people around here put a little more effort into making the place a little more homie.”

 

Ethan waved off the statement and said, “You're just being humble, the place looks cozy. A lot cozier than with my father.”

 

Gared saw an opportunity, and pursued it, ”Wow, really? I’d think anywhere would be better than this place.”

 

Ethan groaned and elaborated, “Well, sure, it’s nice if you like expensive high class shit, but it’s all so overwhelming. It’s cool the first time you see it, but it gets boring after a while.” Ethan stopped for a moment, considering if he would want to elaborate further. Then, suddenly, losing all airs of politeness, he continued, “If getting bored of the place was all there was to it, I would be just fine with the place, but it takes so much work to maintain that huge fucking ship. And it’s not like my father can’t afford help. He can just hire someone else to take care of that shit, but noooo~,  _ I  _ have to do my part!”

 

Gared looked down at Ethan, at a loss of action to take. He would have felt for Ethan had the man not been so unhinged in the way he talked about his father. As they walked further down, Gared wondered about Ethan’s allegiance to his father. He seemed to resent his father to some degree, so would attempting to sabotage his father be possible?

 

Gared questioned him further, “So, was it your father who sent you out to get him an alligator?” Gared knew that was probably not the case. Why would Mr.Gonzales send out his only son to do something that he had already hired someone else to do?

 

Ethan answered, “Well, he didn’t ask. He only ever asks me to do shit around the ship! He never puts my true talents to good use! I’m a good fighter! I can get shit done!”

 

Gared suddenly regarded Ethan much more carefully than before. Ethan must have taken notice of this, because he suddenly lowered his tone and adopted his old airs of politeness. 

 

They reached the kitchen/dining room where Midip and Read sat quietly.

 

Read greeted Ethan with a smile as pleasant as his jaw would let him, “Hello.”

 

Midip, looking up from his tablet for but a second, also greeted Ethan, “Hey.”

 

Ethan, upon hearing the electric tone in which Midip spoke became a little uneasy, but did not comment on it, assuming that the small unggoy had a disability that did not allow him to use his voice. He had heard it before, but hadn’t known that it had came from an unggoy.

 

Gared lead Ethan to a seat opposite of both Read and Midip as he introduced them, “Ethan, the lovely unggoy’s name is Midip. He’s the resident genius, and helps a lot around the ship.”

 

Midip lightened up a bit at the complement, but wasn’t sure that he helped all that much around the ship. He kept the ship running, but that was all he did to help the others on the ship. Everything else he did was for himself.

 

Gared then gestured to Read, “And this handsome kig-yar’s name is Read. He does most of the field work, and is one of the two fellows that helped you out down on earth.”

 

If a kig-yar could blush, Read would be the first. He looked to Ethan and saw the appreciation on his face.

 

Ethan held out his for a shake saying, “Well, Read sir, I own you my life. Thank you.”

 

Read took Ethan’s hand and shook, “Think nothing of it. I’m glad to help.”

 

Ethan let go of the handshake, “That’s some damned fine english you’ve got there. You to Gared.”

 

Midip gave Ethan an irked look, but was glad at what was developing. If the crew could convince the son that we all spoke english, we would surely look much more professional. Midip knew only a few choice words, but used a translator for most of his speaking, and Xuda’s grasp on the english language was lose at best.

 

Gared seemed to pick up on this, and decided to impress Ethan a little more, “You know, english isn’t the only language I know.”

 

Ethan perked up at this, “Oh, sprichst du deutsch?”

 

Gared smiled, “Ein bisschen. Ich bin nicht so fließend.”

 

While Midip was delighted to have Ethan distracted, he felt a little out of the loop not being able to understand the conversation. He set his translator to analyse the conversation for a language.

 

Ethan spoke to Gared, “Das ist gut genug. Seit die Menschheit die Erde verlassen hat, ist jede andere Sprache als Englisch gestorben.”

 

Midip picked up german, and began downloading an update.

 

Gared replied, “Ich kenne. Niemand lernt neue Sprachen, wenn sie einen Übersetzer benutzen können. Die Menschen vergessen die wahre Schönheit des Erlernens einer neuen Sprache. Es ist, als würde man die Welt aus einer völlig neuen Perspektive betrachten.”

 

The update now download and installed, Midip no longer had to listen to this gibberish.

 

Ethan agreed, his voice now electric and filled with audible artifacts in Midip’s ears, “Absolutely!” He cringed a little as he continued, “My father would love to speak with you. You should come meet him when you drop me off.”

 

Gared gave a quick sideways glance to Midip, asking for his approval. It was in that moment that Gared had remembered that he had been having that conversation in a language that Midip probably didn’t understand.

 

Midip replied nonetheless with a single wave of his hand, signaling to Gared that they would talk about it later.

 

Gared quickly answered Ethan’s question, “I don’t know. I have plenty of work to do on the ship. Maybe I can get it all done before we reach your father.” He switch back to english, “Well, I’ll be heading off. Wanna get everything done before we get to your dad. Why don’t you go with Read, and he’ll take you to see the other fellow who helped you.”

 

Ethan gave a nod, “Alright, wouldn’t want to keep ya from your work.” He held out his hand, which Gared shook, “I look forward to speaking to you again.”

 

And with that, the group split up, Gared and midip going one way, while Read and Ethan went another.

 

Midip spoke softly to gared, “I would like you to go and keep Ethan and his father distracted, but there’s a chance that things could get violent. Think about it before you go.”

 

As Gared gave it some thought, Rean and Ethan disappeared down a diffrent hall. They walked in silence before Ethan gingerly asked, “So… How’s Bonnie?”

 

Read took the question, and thought. Bonnie was interrogating Lance, out of Ethan’s sight. He answered forlornly, “She’s been gone for a while, out on business.”

 

Ethan gave a sheepish gasp through his teeth, “Aww man, sorry to hear that.”

 

Read looked at him with a confused look on his face, “Sorry about what?” The look turned into one of hope, “She’ll be back, I know it.” As Read said this, he wondered if he could ever have a career in acting.

 

It was then, as they got closer to where Xuda might be, they begun to hear the faint sound of a piano. As they got closer, Ethan bagan to focus on the music, hear every note that rung out and down the corridors, hearing how the sound hopped from one note to the other.

 

When they got a little closer, they begin to hear Xuda’s soft singing voice under the sound of the piano.

 

_ The love for what you hide _

 

_ The bitterness inside _

 

_ Is growing like the newborn _

 

Read and Ethan got to the doorway, waiting for Xuda to be finished. Read remembered what happened when he interrupted Xuda last time. It seemed simple enough, but Read could tell that it had really messed with Xuda. So Read just sat back and listened to Xuda work.

 

Ethan did the same as well, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes.

 

_ When you’ve seen, seen _

 

_ Too much too young, young _

 

_ Soulless is everywhere. _

 

And with that, Xuda fell silent.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Xuda turned to the voice and saw Ethan. The wide birthed smile that Ethan gave to Xuda made the vulnerable sangheili feel warm and accepted.

 

But the heartwarming moment was soon interrupted by the shrill ringing of Read’s comm. He quickly answered it, holding the thing to his ear, “Yes…” A moment of silence ensued, “Alright, we’ll be there.” Read snapped the comm back onto his belt, and spoke to Ethan, “Midip had your father on hold, he would like to speak to you.”

 

Ethan looked down dejectedly, but quickly recovered. He let Read lean the way, but before going himself, he gave one last remark to Xuda, “That was beautiful.”

 

Ethan left Xuda to play with his piano, soon arriving at the conference room, where Mr.Gonzales and Gared spoke in tongues. Thankfully, Midip could hear every word of it.

 

Mr.Gonzales spoke with a thundering voice, “Well, go on, do something else!”

 

Gared gave a shy smile, clearing his throat before speaking, “Signore, stai davvero mettendo alla prova le mie capacità linguistiche.”

 

Mr.Gonzales gave another hardy laugh, “Wow, so fluent! You, my sir, are gifted! That must be the extent of your linguistic skill!”

 

Gared saw this as another challenge, but was quickly getting tired of the song and dance Mr.gonzales was making him put on. He cleared his throat, and took a gamble, “Vi kommer att invadera ditt skepp och stjäla grundaren från rätt under din feta, obehagliga näsa.”

 

Mr.Gonzoles, once more, gave a laugh, completely oblivious to the intent behind Gared’s words.

 

Mr.Gonzales stopped for a moment to notice his son standing at the doorway, “Ah, the man of the hour.”

 

* * *

 

Lance sat restrained to a chair bolted to the floor. He struggled against his bonds, but found that he could not muster the strength to bend the metal that bounded him. He had lost track of time, but suspected that he had been traped for at least a day. He had yelled for about an hour or so, but no one came. No one came to let him go to the bathroom, so he held it until he no longer could.

 

He was humiliated, sitting exhausted in his own filth, until he heard a door opening behind him. He struggled against his restraints, trying to look behind himself, but finding it impossible, “Thank God! Please, for the love of God, get me out of here!”

 

He heard a gag. It was a female. She said, “Jesus, fuck!” and slammed the door behind him.

 

Another eternity, then she came back. He sat still, fearing that the smallest movement would sent her fleaing once more. She came to stand in front of him wearing what looked like a hazmat suit.

 

She clapped her hands together, the sound coming from it rubbery and damp, “Let’s begin!”

 

Lance’s eyes went wide as the situation became clear to him. He struggled in his restraints, “Wait, please! I’ll tell you everything I know! You don’t have to do this, I’ll be fully cooperative!”

 

She was picking something up from behind him, saying, “Now hold on, I’ll start, then you can have your turn.”

 

Lance yelled, “Wait! You don’t have to! I’ll tell you! We had worked for Mr.Gonzales before, and knew his son. We had gotten wind that he had went to earth without any escorts from his father. We planed to get him and hold him randsome!”

 

She sat in front of him, holding a pair of pliers in one hand and a knife in the other, “Well, thank you for telling me, but you still skipped my turn.” She moved the pliers to his eye, quickly plucking a clump of lashes from them. Lance gave a quick scream of pain, followed by a sigh of relief. She tossed the tools aside, “There. Thoroughly torchered.” She grabbed a syringe filled with blue liquid and injected it into his neck.

 

* * *

 

Read left the conference room shortly after arriving, Mr.Gonzales wanting to have a word with his son privately. The room cleared, leaving only the son and the image of his father. Of course, Midip was monitoring the room and the call the whole time, noticing nothing of interest between the two’s communication other than the spite they had for each other.

 

After the long argument, the call ended and Ethan came out of the conference room, telling Midip that his father would meet them halfway. With that news, Midip ordered Read discreetly to tell Xuda and Bonnie to ready for the field.

 

Telling Xuda was quick and formal, but when Read got to the interrogation room to tell Bonnie, he found her in a yellow plasitc suit, scrubing a naked, lifeless looking body. She looked up to him, taking off the mask, greeting him, “Hi Read. What’s up?”

 

Read looked down at her, stifling a laugh, “Bon-Bon, what’re you doing?”

 

“Well, I let the guy stu for a while, but it turns out that he shit himself while I waited. He turned out to be quite helpful. I barely had to do anything to him. He sang like a bird.” Bonnie had Lance draped across the chair on his belly, wiping away at the filth that stained his rump. “I feel a little bad for the guy.”

 

Read walked behind him, stealing a glance at bonnie’s work, “So this is what a human male looks like.”

 

“What, surprised by the diffrence?”

 

Read shook his head, “No, actually. Quite the opposite. He looks just as soft as you. Kinda cute actually.”

 

Bonnie gave Read a playful scoff, “Are you fucking serious?”

 

Read gave a little laugh, “No, I’m not serious. All you humans are weird.”

 

Bonnie finished up with Lance, putting him back into the chair, restraining him to it without his dirty clothes.

 

* * *

 

Read, Xuda, Gared, And Ethan sat in the Police cruzer as they flew to Mr.Gonzales’s pentship.

 

Ethan sat dressed in the same clothes he had left the pentship in. They had been washed on the ship when he had been rescued, but he still felt ashamed wearing them.

 

Xuda had put on an old robe that his father used to wear when royalty would visit his home. That didn’t leave a lot of room for weapons, so he only had an energy sword tucked away in his cloth.

 

Read wore prestigious covenant armor, showing off his groomed feathers as he piloted the cruzer. He came equipped with with his holster, which held his secret weapon.

 

Gared sat dressed only in his preen and primed body fur. He looked absolutely stunning among the group. Where everyone else wore clothes and armor, Gared displayed his natural beauty.

 

Bonnie, lying quietly hidden among the cargo hold, wore only a tight harness they let her have quick and immediate access to her knife and silenced pistol, as well as a short lasting electromagnetic field generator.

 

Together, they drifted closer to the pentship that would welcome them with open hangers.


End file.
